Expectations are always high for France in men’s basketball at the Olympics, and that’s particularly the case this year with the country hosting the 2024 Paris Games. Victor Wembanyama’s Olympic debut is the major storyline for the French, but this team is so talented even beyond the 20-year-old wunderkind. France took silver in men’s basketball at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and the bulk of that team returns this year (plus Wemby) for another medal run.
Rudy Gobert has been France’s key player for nearly a decade. Gobert is still at the top of his game coming off his fourth NBA Defensive Player of the Year award this past season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, where he captained the No. 1 defense in the league. Well, don’t tell Brazil’s Maozinha Pereira about all the awards Gobert has to his name. The 23-year-old produced a brilliant Olympic moment against France on Saturday with a vicious poster on Gobert. Gobert’s biggest haters around the NBA had to love to see this:
Here’s an even better angle:
Pereira signed a 10-day contract with the Memphis Grizzlies last season. This is already the highlight of his career.
For such a great defender, there are so many viral examples of Gobert being on the wrong end of a great highlight over the years. Not being afraid of embarrassment is an underrated part of being an elite defender: Gobert jumped to try to block the shot even though he knew he might not get it and thus end up being clowned again on social media. It didn’t work out for him this time, but he has the right mentality of always trying to make the play. Sometimes even future Hall of Fame inductees like Gobert get beat.
France beat Brazil to start off the Olympics. Pereira will certainly never forget this moment, even in defeat.
